to let an obviously poorly DS (6) still go to the Olympics?

[lechatnoir]

DS has been so excited about to going to the Olympics all year (he's written stories about it, made a countdown calendar, sleeps with his Wenlock toy, boasted to anyone who'll listen - typical 6 year old over excitement) and at bedtime whispered to me that it was going to be the best day of his life!

Unfortunately not long after then twice more in the night & again this morning, he's had his head in the toilet being sick. Initially I thought it was just over excitement but 4 times in one night must be a bug (family macaroni cheese is definitely not the culprit). Of course he swears blind he's fine despite clearly not being right BUT I just don't have the heart to say he can't go DH is still ok about taking him & thinks he can't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity but AIBU & should I make his stay at home?

I still think OP's DS should not have gone, but I do accept and understand other people's views on this re bugs and sniffles.

However the chicken pox thing is a whole other level, and most of the time MN would come down on you like a ton of bricks.

As as for the 'sick people should stay at home," or the "something else should have carried them off before chicken pox" attitude... Words fail me.

I think the wrinkle in that argument, Emilie, is that even if everyone did stay home when they became sick, we would still all be exposing each other to germs all the time because we are so often contagious before we feel sick. In other words, you can't always blame other people for passing around germs, because often it's done unknowingly (or because they can't help it, like if they'll get fired for staying home with a bad cold).

So my keeping a potentially sick child home is not necessarily going to reduce the risk of other people falling ill, because there will doubtless be other people going to the event who are either unknowingly contagious or who are sick but have no choice but to be there.

I do think that mitigates things somewhat. For me, it means that while I would not send DS if he definitely had norovirus or something like that, I would still consider it if it's possible he doesn't have a bug and isn't contagious anyway.

Wonder how many people her have been to the Olympic Park? I have and it's not a place for a under-par child.

I doubt words will fail you Nigella, worry not. I talked flippantly and didn't mean to cause hurt. The pox thing got a bit out of hand because didn't Stangirl say she had asked everybody beforehand?

She went to two public places with children with chicken pox - how exactly did she ask everyone?

I think if he feels up to it he should go. I remember missing out on something when I was about that age having a temp of 104 degrees, I was absolutely gutted. Just make sure he doesn't get dehydrated, a bottle of flat coke will perk him up throughout the day. Travel sickness tablets really help with nausea when the stomach is empty as well.

So all of the hysterical crew on this thread predicting apocalype if OP's son sits at a sports event after being sick, I take it you've never left the house and gone shopping/into work/on public transport when you've had colds/coughs? I seriously hope not because you may have made someone with respiratory problems very ill indeed. And if you haven't, then you must have very understanding employers if you ring in sick every time you get a cold.

Dreaming, yes, I understand what you are saying and it does come down sometimes to the grey area of whether an illness is contagious or not.

I would generally go with yes it is, if a child has been up all night vomiting and is still vomiting in the morning. But that's just my opinion.

Also if you are going on the basis of 'other people will unwittingly be carrying infectious illnesses so mine won't make a difference' - well, that's like arguing for being selfish because lots of other people are too.

Like saying to your child, well, that person walked out of the shop carrying an unpaid for box of sweets in their trolley, so it's Ok for you to pinch some as well as it won't make any odds.

I don't think people are being hysterical, although I admit it's more amusing to characterise some good arguments in that way.

A child being gutted doesn't trump all other arguments. Sorry if that makes me sound like a bitch. I love children, but I think it's not in anyone's interests to take an ill child into that environment.

"
Not true, most are contagious by contact with the droplets from the vomit, or bacteria from unwashed hands, not from breathing the same air unless the person has just vomited. "

That is what I meant. How many handrails on the Tube do you hold on to in a day? How many coins that have been passed through God knows how many hands? FFS, even trying clothes on in shops is a hazard.

There will be a great many people in the crowd with foreign bugs who are in a foreign country eating foreign food - a little boy with an icky tummy will hardly figure.

I've taken a child with chicken pox through a crowded waiting room.

I didn't know he had it - I didn't even know he might have it. I found out after we got home, we were there for something else.

I was gutted and rang the surgery so at least if anything could be done in hindsight, they would know.

I would NEVER have taken him there knowing he had it. That is the difference. We spent the next week enshrined in our house and car while I dived in and out of shops to get essential things, leaving him unattended.

And when ds1 caught it a few weeks later, we spent that week doing the same thing - even though it was really awkward, as I had a really bad toothache and needed to go to the dentist, and the chemist and the hospital on different days and you can imagine with no childcare worth a mention this was hard work to organise. I didn't take him with me. My needs were not above those of the other people he could potentially have infected.

I minimise trips out when I have a cold/cough and certainly wouldnt go to somewhere so public no. I have a Ds who ends up hospitalised with every cold so I wouldn't risk that for someone else.

People get colds a lot more often than they get bugs or chickenpox. I'd rather sit beside someone who was sneezing into a hanky than beside a child who was boaking.

Bupcakes, now I think it's your turn to be called hysterical. Germs can only live for so long on garments. Handrails, yes, a good few hours but trying on clothes isn't likely to be a massive issue.

And if that was what you meant, why didn't you say it in your original post? It totally contradicts what you said before.

I think because my group of friends were all very relaxed about seeing them when pox ridden (including my immuno suppressed Uncle) I had a skewed attitude. My GP also said that the kids were most infectious before the spots came up and that it was spread by touching (so I avoided all actual contact with public) and the cough (so kept kids in buggy/away from coughing distance). Also - when I went to the torch relay I walked through back roads to get there and went to a less packed bit of the route so the crowd was only one person thick ie we only were next to people either side. So I thought I was being considerate but after all your comments I will be much more careful in future.

Yesterday I took the kids to the park at 9am before any other kids were there so they could play. So I haven't been entirely without thought for others.

Right - I really must dress the kids now...

Emilie

Again, I agree. When you do something knowingly then that's selfish. I can't be responsible for other people's actions, only my own, and those of my family.

Wondering if anyone on here advocating taking him has been to any of the venues?

Oh I so hope he keeps the toast down and goes!!!!
Pack some Diaoralite, and take him. You can always leave if he continues to be ill.

Leaving could take an hour. Then there's a journey on public transport

People do get colds more often than chickenpox/stomach bugs but that wasn't my question. I'm asking why you don't quarantine yourself when you have colds for fear of infecting someone with respiratory illnesses?

Jamie I don't think it makes you sound like a bitch, you're being fair, doing something you would expect others to do in return is just consideration.

"Bupcakes, now I think it's your turn to be called hysterical. Germs can only live for so long on garments. Handrails, yes, a good few hours but trying on clothes isn't likely to be a massive issue."

What I'm saying is, if it's such a hazard taking a sick child out to a sports event, what of all the other hazards (handrails/coins etc) I'm not saying that I personally give a fuck about these things (I really don't) but where do you draw the line at the germ hysteria?

Sorry I had to spell my post out for you, thought it was fairly obvious.

I quarantine myself as much as I can when I have a cold.

Generally speaking a cold is not going to cause as many, or as serious, consequences for those with immunity issues as a vomiting illness or chicken pox might. As far as I know.

Plus colds are as the name suggests, common. Much more common than those other things. That is significant as isolation due to a cold would have a far greater impact on society than isolation due to sickness and other such things. It is less plausible in terms of logistics.

The world will not stop if people who are vomiting do not go to work. If everyonewith a mild respiratory illness stopped going to work, it would probably have some impact.

Oh do you really need to be so patronising?